Articles

The Taiwanese Juniper

by Salvatore Liporace, Italy

Images by Ruben Roig Bernado
Italian Text by Alessandra Cappelletti
Translated by Marco Favero
Edited for English by Andy Rutledge

Above: The projected final result of Mr. Liporace's work on the juniper in this article.

Editor's notes:

Special thanks to Marco Favero for his translation of this article.

Also, a somewhat similar article by Mr. Liporace recently appeared in
the BCI publication. This is a different article featuring a different
tree.

* * *

The mighty base and winding trunk, ripped with dazzling white shari
pressed between swollen live veins ascending in a twist, like bulging
muscles, holding up shining and healthy foliage…

This image struck Salvatore Liporace like thunderbolt. Even at first
glance he was sure that his skilled hands could transform this plant
into a wonderful specimen. The dream of every bonsai artist is to find
high-quality bonsai material for shaping into a masterpiece. This was
just such material.

It has always been the desire of Westerners to find plant material that
combines the tortured yamadori look (as if collected from the wild) with
lush and healthy foliage. There is a part of Asia where patient experts
grow such material from young trees. These growers carefully tend their
plants so that they became extraordinary specimens reserved for an elite
group of Eastern artists.

Salvatore Liporace had already worked with some of these excellent junipers,
which had been imported into Europe. However, during his trip to Taiwan
in December 2001, he met with a shock. Those trees that had impressed
him in the past were only a pale sample, a scant advance guard of the
marvelous array now before him: hundreds of wonderful junipers growing
in fields in the north-central region of the island.

View of a Juniper cultivation field in Taiwan. In background you can
see the terraced terrain, which keeps the ground from being washed away
and from becoming too soggy. The soil is mostly clay. Even though it
is rich in nutrients it has the disadvantage of becoming a pasty and
compact mass when wet, which inhibits aeration and promotes root rot.
Excess drying of the clay during dry season causes the soil to crack,
which can damage the roots. The growers, therefore, have to carefully
monitor the soil moisture level and water when necessary.

Cultivation of these specimens, which according to the quality of these
plants must last 20 to 40 years, begins with air-layered stock. With
excellent care and shaping over the years, these trees now possess sinuous
trunks with thick foliage. Years of selective branch trimming, followed
by bark stripping, creates nice jin and shari. This meticulous care and
planning results in extraordinary bonsai material.

When the trees reach a good level of development they are put into large
pots for several more years and then sold to bonsai artists. Clearly
these plants are worked hard, but their health and development show that
they are allowed to recover fully between styling operations. Therefore,
the artist can have a dynamic plant with dense foliage and good root
development, well adapted for a bonsai pot.

The subject of this article is one of these excellent junipers.

Sometimes the tops of the plants that have interesting movement, removed
during the formation process, are kept as plant material by air-layering.
This produces some nice shohin material. In this image you can see some
of them in the lower right.

Removal or death of a branch on junipers often causes the death of the
vein on the trunk that fed it, leaving a dead wood section (shari). Evidence
of such work can be seen on the juniper in the center of this photo.

Two decades of cultivation in the field isn’t enough for making an interesting
juniper for a master artist. Rather, it is necessary to grow the plant
for several more years in a large container to promote the development
of fine roots, compact foliage, and to further define the shari. Only
at this point will the specimen be ready for offering in the vendor's
sales area.

Detail of the amazing shari formation on a Taiwanese juniper. In Taiwan,
artists of this technique have attained a very high level of skill. There
are some artists who specialize just in creating beautiful deadwood features.
This art requires years of experience and specific tools, which, unlike
basic cutters, bring a sense of absolute naturalness to the results of
the work.

During his trip in Taiwan, Mr. Liporace was invited to assist with a
private demonstration by Master Cheng. There he was astounded by the
precision and accuracy of the work. If you create a shari using the Taiwanese
artists’ method you can spend many days, but the final result will be
powerful and natural looking. That demonstration persuaded Mr. Liporace
to see to it that this technique was demonstrated in the West. So he
arranged for Master Cheng to tour Italy with demonstrations, workshops
and a special training for IBS
instructors. Master Cheng then also attended
the World Congress in Munich as the Taiwanese delegate.

* * *

The Taiwanese Juniper is a variety of Juniperus chinensis especially
appreciated for its thick foliage with soft needles. It normally grows
in wet places and clay soil, rich in nutrients. This juniper needs
carefully watering. Over-watering, like other stressful conditions
(cutting back hard or repotting), often results in the growth of juvenile
foliage (a coarse, spiky needle). This foliar form represents the juniper’s
defense against unsuitable and damaging conditions. This generous plant
quickly reverts to the soft needles of mature foliage when the stress
factor is removed.

The Taiwanese Juniper will back-bud even from old wood if cut back hard.
The buds grow rapidly, especially in its native climate, where they may
keep foliage for up to 5 years. The abundant foliage provides a strong
draw for sap to keep the branches healthy. As you know, sap travels up
the live veins from roots to the leaves, only to return with nutrients
to the roots. So as nature is concerned only with cost/benefit relationships,
not with bonsai styles or elegance, you should always carefully evaluate
the removal of foliage. Careless elimination of important foliage in
order to achieve some stylistic aim may cause irreparable damage to the
veins feeding the branch. When trimming, be sure to leave enough foliage
to keep sufficient sap flow.

In order to preserve the nice foliage of this interesting juniper and
to promote soft needle growth, fertilize with proven organic products
like Bio Gold or Aburakasu. Remember that if you over-fertilize you risk
inducing the spiky, juvenile foliage.

The tree selected by Salvatore Liporace for this article. It has been
growing for several years in a pot while undergoing training and shaping.
Its main characteristics include the spectacular tortuous trunk movement,
excellent health, soft foliage and excellent ramification. The relatively
shallow pot will make transplanting into an appropriate bonsai pot quite
easy.

This tree stands out among the others, of which many will be sold to
Japanese artists. Several years ago during one of his many trips in Japan,
Mr. Liporace heard Mr. Masahiko Kimura extol the virtues of these Taiwanese
junipers. Mr. Kimura showed him books with images of bonsai created in
Taiwan, calling them the best in the world. It was many years before
Salvatore could find out for himself. Then in December 2000, on his first
trip to Taiwan, he saw ample proof of what Mr. Kimura had told him years
before.

The Shaping Begins

Back in his workshop at Studio Botanico, the artist chooses the front.
Here you see the first front, which didn’t satisfy because it hides the
live vein at the soil level. Moreover, the strong trunk movement is neither
graceful nor pleasant.

The best and final front. Here, the base, shari and live veins
are emphasized, while the trunk line is softer and has more overall
appeal. There is harmony now in how the various elements interact (live
veins, shari and base).

A delicate repotting begins. Here, Mr. Liporace works on the back side
of the root ball. The soil is a mixture of clay and sand, favored for
development of the fine roots. Note the size of the tree.

View of the tree (previous front) in its new Certré pot. The soil is
sifted akadama.

Back. Note that the new planting angle, with the apex tilted toward
the front, has exposed part of the rear portion of the roots.

Front, with detail of the base and trunk.

The juniper in its final planting position. Please note the moss on
the soil surface, used to protect the small surface roots from dehydration
after repotting.

Sanding the bark reveals the reddish color of the live veins. First
you should use a brush with soft wet bristles, then fine-grained sandpaper.
Finally, a soft pad soaked with a bit of olive oil brings out a deep,
rich color.

Mr. Liporace hides the copper wire with lime sulfur (usually used to
preserve jin). This technique helps to add an aged patina to the copper
wire so that it is somewhat camouflaged among the branches.

After treating the dead wood and the live veins. The striking beauty
of this newly created bonsai is now revealed.

In the future, the large jin on the right will perhaps be shaped to
better harmonize with the rest of the tree.

Even the back of this bonsai is given attention; the foliage carefully
arranged and the deadwood detailed and treated.

A bonsai’s appeal is due in great measure to the details. Here you can
see the appropriate soil surface decoration with different varieties
of moss and lichen. This preparation helps to bring the pot, soil surface
and tree into harmony.